Chasing Amy [1997] review

After recently watching Clerks and Mallrats, and being older than I was upon my first viewing of Chasing Amy, I found this movie to still hold up and really speak volumes about the gay and lesbian community without being too preachy like I felt Dogma was (a movie I plan to re-watch soon as well), and not being too demeaning. I really found myself rooting for the main actors and really being supportive of Joey Lauren Adams' character's views as it made sense to me now that I'm 18 years older and I could synopsize and relate based on my own personal experiences with my LGBT friends and with ex-girlfriends who have had wild pasts compared to my own. Kevin Smith really hit a high note with this movie; it really stands out compared to his other films, films that I still enjoy, but this one is special.

The Wedding Ringer [2015] review

Surprisingly not as horrible as I thought it would be. While not incredibly funny, there were a lot of chuckle worthy moments. I was also happy to find that the movie had some heart. Kevin Hart was pretty good and thankfully not annoying after five minutes so I was happy about that as well. Is Josh Gad supposed to be the new Jonah Hill? He didn't add much humor, but I can see how some viewers might have loved his high singing voice and overall dopiness. Kaley Cuoco pretty much plays her character on Big Bang (from the little of the show that I've seen). If you like the show/character (I don't), then you'll like her performance. Supporting cast was also lack luster. With the proper cast and maybe some more jokes, this may have been more successful. Final thought: I always smile when I see Jorge Garcia in a movie and his final line was great!

Exodus: Gods and Kings [2014] review

In a word: snoozefest. This movie had no heart. The characters were one dimensional. The plot was very matter of fact and treated as such. Christian Bale yells at a kid representing God or God's messenger or something, then eventually he kind of parts the sea, and then all of sudden he's as old as Bilbo Baggins and it's over. Oh, Aaron Paul is in it. Neat! His character feels no pain. Unfortunately I don't have that ability and suffered through this movie, hoping it would get better and never does. At one point, I was really hoping for the rock monsters from Aronofsky's Noah to show up and destroy Egypt as one of the plagues.

A Most Violent Year [2014] review

This movie takes place in NYC 1981 and assumes you know the history ahead of time, which I did not, but I read the statistics afterwards and it sounds pretty bad. This movie focuses on one business owner trying to make it in the world as his oil trucks are stolen and his drivers are car jacked / beat up. No one is killed, but I guess it's pretty violent for that business owner. You see a couple of guns and some of those guns get fired, but I think the only people that die suffer from self inflicted wounds. The only thing I remember getting shot is a deer. Actually, someone might get shot with a shotgun, but the character isn't developed so you only slightly care and the movie does little to address it. Oscar Isaacs is good, but I liked him better in "Inside Llewyn Davis". Jessica Chastain did not impress me in this film especially since she was trying to be half a gangster herself. I try not to put high expectations on a film as I end up disappointed, but if you're going to title your film a certain way, it should at least live up to the title.

The Legend of Korra Series Review

I loved the first season probably because it felt like a continuation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender". After all, in Aang's adventure we did get all the elements except Air, so it was really great to see Korra learning to master that element and grow as a person. I know there was complaints about "the ghost in the machine" finale, but I didn't mind it and I felt that there was something spiritual going on that we, the audience, did not yet understand.

Therefore, the logical next step, after the avatar is a master all four elements, would be a spiritual journey. I remember little teases of the spirit world during A:TLA and really craving more of that. It was really awesome seeing Wan and getting an understanding from the very beginning, but then all that interesting potential storyline was torn away never to return. I remember being very confused at the end of the second season, but still being interested on what changed in the world.

Four new anagonists are introduced and random people seem to gain the power to bend, but only air. Why only air? I don't remember it ever being discussed. There is an existence of a group, opposite of the White Lotus, called the Red Lotus. What was their plan? I'm not really sure. Are there still members of their group in the universe. ::Shrug.:: It feels like we got more questions than answers in the third season, and the Avatar, who doesn't really know what to do with her life, is almost killed. It definitely feels like things are way out of balance.

So, what will our avatar do to bring the world back into balance? Nothing. Not for a while it seems. She's still messed up after 2 years, I believe. There was a random soldier who took it upon herself to fix what was broken, and became power hungry in the process. Where the Fire nation took over after avatar Aang disappeared, it felt like the beginnings of that, but instead with the Earth nation, and I could appreciate that logic. At the end of the day, I guess it's ironic or may be fitting that Korra destroyed the city that Aang built.

Disney's Frozen Review

Disney's "Frozen" warms the heart and is sprinkled with comedic moments that make it a really great film. I appreciate movies that don't follow the same mundane formula, movies that actually challenge the form, and "Frozen" does that in spades. It earns a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

American Horror Story: Coven Review

Overall, I'm sad to say that I really did not enjoy this season.  Some of the episodes were hard to get through or even get amped up enough to even play/watch them on my DVR.  It was VERY difficult to care about ANY of the characters because none of them had any redeeming value.  The overall themes of witchcraft and Voodoo are not really themes that interest me, but I was hoping the show would have changed that;  it did not.  The convoluted plot and multiple storylines added little enjoyment to the ultimate direction of the show which, in my opinion, was finding a new Supreme and ensuring the future of the school.

Specifically, in the finale, it felt like Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) was Professor X, recruiting witches instead of X-men to her academy.  Also, the witches testing their abilities of all Seven Wonders at one time in the same episode felt forced and rushed.  I would have thought that maybe the writers would have put the witches in positions where they needed to use one of the Seven Wonders to save herself or a loved one from trouble throughout the season, but that didn't seem the case and the witches pretty much did whatever they wanted.  Why even have a school then?  Why save and ensure a future for something we don't care about?  The school was just a centralized location that brought together a bunch of witches that repeated the same mistakes of the past but somehow came out smelling like roses in the end.  The final twist was this was supposedly Fiona's (Jessica Lange) plan the whole time to get her daughter to realize her power?  Sorry, but that’s bull, very farfetched, and very out of character for her.  I expected Fiona to have a second knife hidden to kill her daughter and regain her power during the final hug.  When she just died so did her entire character that had been presented this whole time.  Disappointing.

Other thoughts:  I don't think the Kathy Bates character or even Stevie Nicks was needed.  All the past events added nothing to the present.  It would have been better if the school was actually in Kathy Bates character’s old house, but they were two separate locations and I felt it wasn’t really needed.  Also, the Axeman character and his story felt out of place.  Papa Legba also felt shoe-horned into this season.  If the writers had introduced him earlier on, it could have made the show more enjoyable.  Lastly, it's hard to care when a character dies when death isn't treated as a final destination and a character could come back at any time.

I don’t like being negative about a show and even though I didn't like this season of American Horror Story, I’ve enjoyed Ryan Murphy’s work up until this point and I hope he has something better in store for Season 4, something that really pushes the boundaries of television and entertainment.